Ecuador

Yesterday a judge in Ecuador ordered that former President, Rafael Correa, be jailed after failing to appear in court in connection with a probe into the kidnapping of an opposition lawmaker. The judge issued an order for Mr Correa’s arrest and extradition from Belgium, where he currently resides with his Belgian wife and children.

Last month, Ecuador’s highest court ordered that Mr Correa be included in the investigation into the failed kidnapping of Mr Fernando Balda in Bogota, Colombia in 2012. Mr Correa had been ordered to appear in Quito, Ecuador, every 15 days from early June to comply with the probe. Yesterday Mr Correa dismissed this requirement as being “impossible to fulfil.” Instead, he appeared, on Monday, at the Ecuadorean consulate. However, a judge had already warned that would not meet the court’s demand.
Mr Correa is refusing to consent to his extradition on the basis that he believes it is founded on a political vendetta and “judicial persecution.”